


Scars Cut Deeper Than Wounds

by TerressaWinner



Series: A Bat's Bug [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: A bunch more character that I'm not bothered to list out, Aged-Up Character(s), Depression, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Is Marinette really innocent??, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Is a Mess, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug is a Wayne, May have mentions of smut, Murder Mystery, Psychological Trauma, Unplanned Pregnancy, can also be found on wattpad with the same username TerressaWinner, doting Damian, doting Dick, doting Jason, doting Tim, even doting Bruce and Alfred!, more tags, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:01:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 17,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23220643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerressaWinner/pseuds/TerressaWinner
Summary: Marinette has a dark past she's not willing to share with anyone. One so dark that she had to move away from the hubble and bubble of Paris to the dark streets of Gotham. She roams around until she is met by a talking Traffic light and taken in by a dark haired, rich man. Everything goes well until a secret is discovered that soon leads to many others being brought to light....
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Dick Grayson, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Jason Todd, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: A Bat's Bug [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1671253
Comments: 116
Kudos: 468





	1. A New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> For the comfort of all readers, I have made all the characters above 20. However, you can age them however you like.
> 
> [WARNING] This book will probably trigger someone's anxiety so if you don't want to, you don't have to read it. Even I'm having a hard time not crying whilst writing it. There's gonna be so much angst 😭. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

The darkness formed a cloak around her shadowing her from the rest of the world, but also making her the perfect target. As her heels clicked on the floor and echoed, it only reminded her of the fact that she was all alone in a new city that she'd hopped through a portal to get to. She pulled off the glasses and placed them safely in her purse and as if by instinct, or perhaps some sort of reassurance, she touched her ears and was met with the familiar cool touch of her earrings reminding her that she was in fact not alone. And that in her purse stuffing herself with cookies to get ready for any attacks, was her beloved kwami, Tikki.

Her stomach growled angrily begging for food and her feet screamed at her to kick off her heels and give herself a well-needed foot massage. She groaned as she felt the throbbing of her head and felt sick; perhaps from fear...or maybe something else.

Tears began going at her eyes but she wiped them off and continued to walk down the lonely street in her shredded pastel pink lace dress. This was one of her favourites as well. She heard movements from behind and began to speed up her steps, however the thing behind her matched her pace. This was the time for a little of Ladybug's luck. Although she knew that transforming in plain sight and infront of a witness was a terrible idea as it would not only expose her identity, but also risk her family and friends being tortured for it as well, she also doubted that anyone outside of Paris even knew what was going on.

She wasn't stupid. If anyone else knew, it would be the latest news all over the world and she scoffed at the possibility of scientists not paying a visit to their humble city of love (and apparently akumas too). Besides, even if they did know who she was, she could just silence them. 

As she came to an abrupt stop and heard the person behind her stop as well, she whispered the words, "Tikki. Spo-" BAM! Marinette almost jumped out of her skin as she heard a loud thump from behind and practically felt the man's scream. Then everything went silent.

"Mind telling me what you're doing roaming around the streets of Gotham at 2 in the morning?" a voice cut through the silence, their deep American accent almost ruining their fluent French.

"How do you know I'm French?" she asked in English. Marinette had yet to turn around and meet the mystery man.

"You're the embodiment of a typical French person."

"Isn't that a bit assumptive?"

"Maybe." he chuckled, "But your thick French accent also gave it away.

Marinette silently scolded herself. She really needed to work on her accent. Pretending to speak English wouldn't work if her homeland was practically stuck in her throat the whole time.

She finally turned around. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to make out the figure in the dark. He then took a step closer and she realised immediately who it was, Robin.

"You know being saved by a walking talking traffic light wasn't what I had in mind when I decided to move to Gotham for a change of pace."

His eyes narrowed in suspicion, "But why Gotham?"

"I don't know. I guess you could say I put a bunch of America's countries in a hat and Gotham was the one I plucked out." Her humorous answer caused the side of his mouth to twitch up.

"Very funny. So why not tell me the real reason you're here." All her hopes of deceiving him crumbled. She couldn't tell him that she' d been in a rush to escape and so opened a magical portal to anywhere but there and hopped in! He'd think she was crazy!

"Let's just say that I had to escape from someone quickly and a ticket to Gotham was the soonest one."

He nodded and his previously tensed body seemed to relax a little. She was hoping he wouldn't question her anymore out of pity.

"I would say bye." she was broken out of her reverie by his voice, "But I don't want to leave a vulnerable woman like you standing out in the streets. So I'll drop you off at a hotel."

"I don't have any money."

"It's on me."

"Why?"

"Because you're life is too valuable to waste." she smiled, "And I don't really want your dead body to be the first thing I see when I turn on the news knowing that I could've helped." She chuckled at that.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

He reached out his hand and she took it.  
She would have been surprised when Robin whipped out his grappling hook and sent them flying across the building if she didn't already do it on a daily basis with her yoyo.

When they reached the entrance of the hotel, he gave her a couple of dollars and watched as she booked a room.

She turned around with a smile and shook his hand giving him another 'thanks'. He nodded curtly.

"Marinette."

"What?"

"My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"Well have a good night Miss Dupain-Cheng and don't go roaming around the streets at night in the future."

"I can't promise that." She replied as she began to walk away.

And of course, she couldn't. Ladybug did have to make her debut in Gotham somehow after all.

He grinned as he watched her walk away then nodded to the receptionist, turned on his heel and was out the door to look for anymore stray pedestrians.

-&-

"Tim, I'm going to need you to do some research on a 'Marinette Dupain-Cheng' for me."

Tim groaned in his cup of coffee at the word 'research'. Although he found is absolutely exhilarating that he'd get to crack open his laptop and snoop through another person's life (as creepy as that sounds), he'd just woken up! However, the words 'Marinette Dupain-Cheng' got him on his feet and walking to his laptop as he grinned from ear to ear, his fatigue disappearing.

"Ooh is our little demon interested in a girl?"  
the word 'girl' dragging on. Damian grumbled under his breath, he knew this was going to happen.

"No I just met her earlier this morning and she was walking around on her own in a ripped dress and twigs poking out her hair. She's French and it's way to suspicious for someone to make their way to Gotham of all places. Moreover, she also lied about why she's here."

At this, Tim's carefree attitude faded away as he went to work absorbing the information.

Damian wasn't dumb. And being in a family of the world's greatest detectives had its perks. He knew the moment she'd mentioned tickets that she was lying; there were no tickets to Gotham. No one in their right mind would want to visit here. The only way to get here was by private transportation. He was a pretty good actor, when he'd had to feign relaxation, he also caught her shoulders slightly relax and the creases on her head wipe away from existence.

"Found her!" Tim called as he grinned triumphantly to himself, "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, in her 20s and the daughter of two bakers, Sabine and Tom. She's a favourite of Paris' hottest rockstar, Jagged Stone and recently used to work for a Fashion Brand owned by Gabriel Agreste until... yesterday."

Damian's eyes furrowed everything seemed perfect for her so he couldn't point out why she'd want to leave. And according to the info, he could tell that she definitely was in a rush to leave yesterday as she quit her job only moments before arriving. "Anything else?"

Tim scanned the page looking for anything of worth and came upon something that interested him, "She's dating Adrien Agreste." Damian nodded. Once again, he couldn't find anything wrong as she seemed to be living the perfect life, however if he had to guess, he would bet that Adrien was the cause for her suffering. Although, the last time they'd met, he seemed like a pretty chill guy. Maybe he was letting his assumptions get to him. Or maybe his assumptions were actually his gut feeling telling him something was definitely wrong. Either way, he would definitely get down to the bottom of this; it was concerning to have seen a foreign woman looking a mess and arriving with no money or luggage and only a pink purse.

-&-

"I look a lot worse than I thought." Marinette said as she watched the girl in the mirror imitate her movements. The girl's lipstick was smudged and her mascara had run. Her dress wasn't too bad, however her hair was definitely at its worse. She sighed.

"It's okay kid. He's gone. You're safe."

Marinette looked up to the bed where Tikki, Kaalki and a little black floating cat were perched watching her.

"Thanks Plagg."


	2. Her Secret

"I heard Baby bird has a girlfriend." Jason sneered as he entered the room.  
Damian sat cross-legged on the couch as he watched the news and growled at Jason's remark.  
"She has a boyfriend."  
"You didn't deny it."  
"Shut up Jason."  
"Is that how you're supposed to talk to your elder brother."  
"Shut up. Jason"  
Dick came barging through the door, "Demon spawn has a girlfriend?! I bet she calls you Damibe-"  
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"

His brothers were really pissing him off. He jumped off the chair and made his way through the door. The last thing he heard was "I bet he's going to see her." and sniggering followed.

"You know what. I just might." he thought.

"Wait!" Jason called from behind, "I just remembered, Father mentioned us having a sort of appointment at a boutique."

-&-

Today really was Marinette's lucky day. After the night before, she'd poked around the hotel room for anything to wear and found some spare clothing. Lucky her! Then when she went to a nearby boutique to get a few jobs with the money she had left from what the hero gave her, she pointed out some mishaps and recommendations to the manager and before she knew it, she'd gotten a job. Moreover, the manager was actually a pretty cool woman. 

"Marinette, we're going to have some important customers around 2. You can help me with their measurements."

"Yes Ma'am."

-&-

2pm came and so did the customers.

"I'll tell you one more time. I do not and will NEVER want to wear a pink suit!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever Baby bird." 

They five men walked into the small boutique and sat by the mirrors followed by who seemed to be their butler. As she walked past to inform the manager of their arrival, she locked eyes with who seemed to be the youngest of the four brothers. For a moment, she thought she could see the slightest bit of recognition from the boy, however, as soon as it appeared, it was gone and he carried on arguing with his brother.

-&-

She'd just finished taking the measurements for 4 of the men and was now onto the fifth, the boy named Damian. "Waist, chest, arm length..." She wrote down the measurements and as soon as she was done, handed them over to the manager and was out the door in a hurry. She couldn't stand to be any closer to them. Not in a rude way, being near the opposite gender just brought up memories. 

"So that's the girl." Tim muttered. When Damian gave him a questioning look, he continued with a grin, "Don't try and hide it Demon spawn, you were staring at her the whole time." When Damian's growl confirmed his suspicions, Jason laughed from the other side of the limo and said, "Maybe Redhood's gonna have to pay her a visit tonight." 

"Don't you dare."

"Aww, is Demon spawn standing up for his girlfriend?"

"Shut up Dick."

It was Bruce's deep voice that silenced them. "Actually, we're all paying her a visit."

The boys all looked at their father. Tim was the first to speak, "Don't tell me-"

"I'm adopting her."

Damian's eye twitched.

"But she's Baby bird's girlfriend, if you adopted her-"

"SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"Then that settles that," Alfred opened the door and indicated that they were home, "I will go and retrieve her tonight."

-&-

She stared at the men in front of her and they stared back. How did she get here again? Oh yeah on her way to the hotel, a car pulled up by her side and she was told that Bruce Wayne had adopted her. At first, she found all this too ridiculous and suspicious and so asked for proof and then the old butler had shoved a document in her hands. It all seemed legit but still too weird. Then again, she'd done her research after she'd met them at the boutique and found that Bruce was prone to adopt dark haired kids. 

She nodded and entered the car clutching her purse tightly at her chest; if the time came, she would not hesitate to take action. The moment she'd seen the manor up ahead, she knew that they were way out of her league. But when she'd entered the house to be met with several eyes on hers and only just remembered that the house was full of boys, she froze.

Before anyone could introduce themselves, she nodded and was up the stairs in a matter of seconds. It was only then that she realised that she didn't know where her room was. 

"Father told me to escort you to your room. He suspected that you would be nervous with it being your first night here and thought that you would be more comfortable with someone your own age." 

Her head swerved, he was surprised that she didn't break her neck with the speed it went, and their eyes locked. "U-um I apologise for my rudeness. I'm just not used to being in a house full of so many men."

"No need. I too would be nervous if I had to live in a house full of women." 

She'd heard that the youngest Wayne was the coldest of them all and no one could fill the empty void in his heart, however the more she talked to him, the more harmless he seemed. 

Before they knew it, they were standing outside her bedroom door. She gave him a quick thanks and was into her bedroom. 

-&-

Ever since she'd started staying in the Wayne household, she would avoid contact with them whenever she could and when she'd been forced to eat with them or sit with them, she would only say the bare minimum. The brothers would always look at her as though they just couldn't piece her together and the moment she would let out a little giggle or snicker, she'd go back to being as emotionless as ever. She'd also be the first to leave the house in the morning and would return late at night.

One night as she sneaked in through the front door, she didn't notice the man waiting for her.

"You shouldn't stay out at night this late. It's dangerous."

She jumped and turned around to be met with the youngest Wayne leaning on the wall watching her.

"U-um I'm sorry." she quickly muttered out then turned on her heel and walked towards the steps.

It was the hand on her shoulder that stopped her in her tracks. "Hold on. I need to ask you something."

"Please let go." Her mind raced.

"Why do you never talk to us?"

"Please let go." she repeated.

"We're not scary. I get that you're nervous and all, but you've been here for almost a month."

"Please. Just let go of me." she repeated again.

"You can't keep going on like this. We're meant to be a family." his voice raised.

"Just get off me!" she screamed. She shoved him. Damian definitely wasn't expecting this when he'd decided to confront the girl and so tumbled and fell.

"What's going on down here?" Jason asked as he trudged down the stairs.

"I heard screaming." Tim stated as he came down behind Jason.

"Everything okay?" Dick asked as he followed behind his two brothers.

Marinette's eyes widened. She'd woken them up! "I'm so sorry for disturbing you." she said as she waved her arms around. 

She was pushed against the wall. "Just why the hell are you even here!" Damian screamed as he pinned her arms next to her head, a blush creeping on his cheeks. Just why did she have to make it so difficult to talk to her! He just wanted to get to know her is all! She squirmed trying to get free. His grip was too strong.

"Hey Damian just leave her alo-"

"Shut up Jason! I know you've also been wondering why she never talks!"

Where had her confidence gone when she'd talked to him as Robin?

"I know but maybe she had a reaso-"

"It's not like I go around asking you why you and your brothers always seem to disappear everyday!" her mind raced, "Or why I found a gun in the bathroom cabinet!"

Tim gulped.

She continued, "It's not like I haven't noticed that there's something off with one of the bookshelves in the office!"

Damian growled as he gripped onto her arms tighter.

_"You're mine Bugaboo."_

Her mind raced.

"Damian let her go!"

_"It's just me and you Marinette. No one's ever going to find you here." He grinned as he pushed her down and muffled her screams with his hand._

Her mind raced. 

"Hey! Answer me!"

"Damian that's enough! You're scaring the poor girl!"

_"Shut the hell up Marinette! I've taken care of your parents and I will not hesitate to kill you too!"_

"No!" she whispered, "NO!" she screamed as tears started to form at her eyes, "NO!"

The boys watched her flabbergasted. Damian's grip on her softened, "H-hey-"

"NO! I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE LET GO! DON'T KILL ME!"

"Kill you?" Jason asked. "We would never."

"Hey Marinette-" Damian tried again.

She slid down the wall and sobbed. Her breathing coming out in short gasps. 

"Mama! Papa!" she screamed as she shook on the floor and tucked herself in grabbing onto her knees. 

"Marinette!" Damian tried again.

_I love you Mari. You don't need to be scared of me." he said as he held her hands, "We're going to get married in a beautiful hall filled with flowers. You can even make our kwamis something to wear!"_

Her mind raced.

"Please just leave me alone! I don't want to a marry you Adrien!" she screamed as she shook.

"Adrien? Who's Adrien?" Dick asked as he kneeled down next to the girl.

"Adrien Agreste!" Tim answered, "It must be Adrien Agreste! Her boyfriend!"

"Did he do something to you?" Jason asked.

Meanwhile, Damian'd made his way to the other side of the room and watched in horror at the display. What had he done.

"ENOUGH!" The room went silent as Bruce entered. "Give the girl some space!"

The brothers backed up away from the weeping girl.

"Are you okay Marinette?" Bruce asked as he made his way to her and as he was about to offer her a hand to stand up, she slapped it away, stood up and ran, her hand covering her mouth.

"Wait!" Tim shouted as he chased after her. The other men followed in pursuit.

They found her in the bathroom hurling her guts out.

"M-Marinette are you pregnant?"


	3. Ladybug

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I am using google translate for French that I do not know so if anything is wrong, I deeply apologise

**~1 Year Ago~**

"Rise and shine Purrincess." Marinette smiled at the familiar voice of her partner as she opened her eyes to be met with his adorably green ones. He pushed the curtains aside allowing the light to seep into her room and temporarily blind her. "Adrien! What have I said about opening the curtains!"  
"It's the only way to wake you up."  
Marinette grumbled and yawned as she slid off the bed only to be lifted up by a pair of strong arms. She squealed as Adrien carried her (bridal style) into the kitchen and placed her at the dining table.  
"What's this?" In front of her, the table was adorned with a variety of flowers in the old vase her mother had given her as a parting gift when she'd moved out to live with him.

"Only the best for my Princess." he grinned as he placed a plate of waffles, bacon and eggs in front of her and a cup of coffee with the foam decorated in a cute little heart. "Or have you forgotten what today is?"

She grinned as she pulled herself up and have him a quick peck. "Let me go and get your gift Mon Minou."

She disappeared into a room and was back a second layer with a wrapped up gift, the wrapping paper being black and the ribbon green. "Ooh a lovely gift handcrafted by my just as lovely girlfriend."

She handed the gift to him with a smirk and he opened it to reveal a fluffy hat with cat ears identical to the scarf she'd given him those years ago when they were still in Dupont. "Aww Bugaboo! You shouldn't have!"

"You've literally been begging me to complete the set. Next is gloves."

He placed the gift on the table and pulled her into a warm hug. "Joyeux anniversaire Marinette."  
"Joyeux anniversaire Kitty."

-&-

"This is totally rad Marinette!"  
Marinette beamed as she watched the rockstar try out another if her works for him, this time it being a hat with music notes plastered all over it.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng, someone is here to see you." Penny called out from the door as she then stepped aside to reveal Adrien holding up a brown bag.

She ran over to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "Adrien! Do you want something?"

"Wanna go for a little break?"

Marinette looked at the rockstar in the other side of the room for permission and he nodded. She beamed and rushed out with Adrien next to her.

\---

"So I visited your parents' bakery and grabbed a few pastries for us."

"Yum."

"And of course, some cheese and cookies for Tikki and Plagg."

At the mention of his name, Plagg came soaring out of his chosen's pocket and as if in cue, so did Tikki.

"Plagg! You should know by now that it's dangerous to come out in public!"

"But sugar cube, there's literally no one here but us!"

The park was empty and if this were a cartoon, you would see a tumbleweed flying through.

Marinette smiled at the kwamis' banter. They were too adorable for their own good! "So shall we?"

"Ladies first."

**~Present~**

"No." Marinette responded a little too quickly as she wiped her mouth and flushed the toilet, "I'm just feeling a bit sick."

"Marinette have you been feeling a little...exhausted lately?" Tim asked.

"I'm not pregnant!" she fumed before she realised who she'd just shouted at, "S-Sorry."

The men watched her bemused as her mood changed in record speed.

They would need back up. She wasn't going to tell them anything. Jason smiled at her and waved as he walked away but then whipped his phone out as soon as he was out of sight and dialled a few numbers.

-&-

"I'm here!" Marinette's head shot up as a woman with shirt dark hair came tumbling into the room.

She seemed as though she were looking for something but when her eyes landed on Marinette, she bounces over and with a grin, held her hand out and said, "Nice to meet you. I'm Cassandra Cain."  
Marinette stared at her hand before holding it and shaking it with what she hoped to be a polite smile.

"I'm Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"I know."

Marinette's smile faltered.

"Ah, sorry. That probably sounded a bit creepy."

It did.

"My brothers have already told me about you." Cassandra sat next to Marinette. "Okay I'm just gonna get straight to the point, Marinette are you pregnant?"

Marinette was flabbergasted. First of all, she wasn't aware that the brothers even had a sister. Secondly, said woman, who she'd just met literally a few seconds ago, just asked her a very personal question. Should she trust her? They don't even know each other! You only tell this kind of stuff to a person you're very close with.

"U-um."

It was Cassandra's hug that stopped her racing thoughts. "I'm sorry I was a bit blunt wasn't I? I just want to help you."

Marinette inwardly scoffed, that's what everyone said! She didn't want to get anyone involved, her parents tried to help her and look where that got them! 6 feet in the ground! However, something about her was unlike everyone else; she was comfortable. Marinette felt as though she could spill all her secrets to this woman and they would all be kept tight in the woman's heart and away from anyone who could use them to destroy her life.

"I-I found out a week before I left Paris."

Cassandra released the hug leaving a blanket of warmth for Marinette.  
"I see."

As if by instinct, Cassandra's eyes flew down to Marinette's stomach. Although it was tiny, she could see a baby bump already beginning to form. "You know, everyone would've found out either way."

"I know. I-I just didn't know how to tell them."

"Does the father know?"

The father of the baby was dead.

"No," there was no need to spread anymore information, "He doesn't."

Cassandra smiled at the girl. "You're so tough Mari. Handling this baby all by yourself." Marinette smiled back at the woman. "Thank you," she thought back to a familiar bundle of blue-dyed black hair and aqua eyes, Luka, "But I wasn't alone."

It's not like she'd cheated on Adrien or anything, it's just that ever since Adrien's death, Luka had been there for her. You couldn't cheat on the dead...right?

"We can talk more about this later, the boys are really worried about you. Do you want to tell them or should I?"

Marinette stared into the beautiful blue eyes of the person next to her, this woman was absolutely stunning.

"I will. Thank you Miss Cain."

"Cassandra, call me Cassandra."

As they stood up to go and meet the boys in the other room, a beep went off.

-&-

"Hehehehehe. Come and get me Batty!"  
Batman grumbled at the villain standing in front of the building. Why today of all days did Joker have to start terrorising the citizens? "Let her go Joker."

"Not until you come out here and fight me!"

The villain's arm grilled tighter around the mother's neck and she screamed as he pressed the gun harder onto her sweaty forehead. "P-Please. Let me and my child go."

"Shut up!"

Meanwhile, her 4 year old son squirmed in a henchman's strong arms and called out for his mother.

"What the hell does Joker want this time?" Nightwing grumbled.

"I swear he's an attention seeker." Robin quipped.

"Fine Joker. Just let the woman go."

"You know I can't leave without someone's blood dropping batty." His face morphed into a sickening grin as he watched the woman on his grasps scream even louder begging to be freed.

A foot came out of nowhere and before he knew it, he was face down on the floor eating concrete. "Who the hell-" he whipped his face up, his eyes full of vengeance and murder as he looked for the person who'd just fly-kicked him in the head.

His eyes caught onto a new hero. "Who the hell brought a cosplayer to town!" he sneered as he stood up looking around for his gun. ("Says the person dressed as a clown." She thought.)

"Looking for this?" she smirked as she held the gun up flipping it around her finger.

"You bitc-"

He was kicked again. This time by Red Robin and before he knew it, he was being chucked into a police car and being sent of to Arkham, again.

"Puddin'!" A woman in pigtails called out his name frantically as she chased the car.

"Wait for me Harley. I'll be out before you can say Joker!"

The hero in red stared at the car, pride written in her smile before a blade was shoved in her face. 

"Who are you!"

"Is that the way you Americans thank someone." she answered as she slowly turned around and lifted her hands up to show surrender.

"Don't make me ask you again." Robin tightened his grip on the sword, his gaze accusing.

"Let her go Robin. She seems harmless."

With that, he sheathed the blade and stepped back.

She kept her hands in the air as she studied the people surrounding her, Robin, Batman, Red Robin, Red Hood, Nightwing and Batgirl watched her with suspicion written in their eyes.

"So are you going to answer the question?" Nightwing broke the silence.

She grinned and in an overly sweet tone, answered, "Pleased to meet you. I'm Ladybug."


	4. Exposed

**~8 Months Ago~**

"Adrien, I'm not cheating on you!" 

"Yes you are!" he slammed her against the wall. "I've seen the way you and Luka look at each other!"

"You're delusional!"

"Shut up!" he lifted his hand ready to strike but instead gripped her chin and lifted it up to make her eyes level with his.

"You're mine Bugaboo." He kissed her. "You're no one else's. But mine." He kissed her again.

Tears began forming at her eyes but he licked them away and chuckled.

-&-

"You have to get away from him Mari!"

Marinette whimpered as she held the phone to her ear, "I know Alya, but-"

"NO BUTS! I'll come over there and show him a piece of my mind!"

Marinette smiled at her best friend, "You're miles away Alya, you wouldn't be able to."

Her and Nino were currently on their honeymoon in the Philippines.

"I don't give a damn Marinette! If Adrien touches you again, you call me and I'll be there ASAP! Or better yet, call the police! Do you understand!"

"Yes Alya." _No Alya._

-&-

"Adrien Agreste! If you lay a hand on my daughter! I will kill you!"

_Not if I kill you first._

Tom banged the door with his beefy hands and Sabine banged the window.

"I'll get you arrested for trespassing!" Adrien shouted at the angry parents.

Tom banged harder on the door, desperate to reach his daughter.

"Where the hell have you hidden my daughter!"

"We'll call the police!" 

"You have no proof of her missing! Don't assume things!"

-&-

Marinette shivered in her cage. The darkness creeping in the high window of the basement. She took a sip of the water Adrien'd supplied her with. "I'm back honey!" She dug into herself as she heard the door unlock and saw Adrien's blonde hair as he made his way over with a plate of food. He opened the cage door and entered placing the plate on the cushions he'd placed down as a floor. He then proceeded to play with her hair then pulled it gently ushering her closer.

"It's just me and you Marinette. No one's ever going to find you here." He grinned as he pushed her down and muffled her screams with his hand. "Shh. It's okay. It won't hurt at all." It did. A lot.

 **~Present~**

"Ladybug huh?" Red Hood looked her up from down, "I can sure see that." he sniggered.

Ladybug blinked. Rude. Yet, the smile didn't leave her face.

"Why are you here? Where did you come from?" Red Robin interviewed the girl.

"Because I'm new to town and want to help. I came from France."

"What makes you think you can help us?" Red Hood asked.

"I can fix anything with my miraculous cure."

Robin scoffed. "Prove it."

Ladybug smiled, a little too sweetly and broke a nearby lamp with her yoyo. "Isn't that vandalism?"

She chuckled at the comment then threw her yoyo in the air.

As she called for the familiar words and the lamb was enveloped in red ladybugs, the heroes watched in utter shock and awe. When the lamp appeared to be completely fixed without even as much as a scratch, they all stared at it.

"Can you cure humans?" Batman asked intrigued at the girl's powers. 

_I wish._ "Unfortunately not. I'm only infused with part of a God's powers. If I was able to heal the sick or make the blind see, that would go against the natural laws of the universe and I would be meddling. If us miraculous wielders were given the God's full abilities, the world would fall into chaos if they got into the wrong hands."

"I see." Batman replied, studying the words she'd just spoken.

Of course she wasn't going to tell them that she could, however, change the amount of abilities she received from Tikki depending on her level of experience and compatibility with the bug; and they had a high compatibility. Although with power came responsibility and with responsibility came prices. She had a price to pay anytime she went over the boundary. 

"You have to change your...costume...though." Red Hood chuckled out.

She was getting sick of this guy.

"Unfortunately, after out first transformation, we are unable to alter out costumes."

"Have you tried it?" he asked.

"Yes."

Red Robin cleared his throat catching everyone's attention, "So now that we've established that she's useful and can stay, what now?"

Ladybug smirked, "Now I bid you all farewell until next time and fly away."

"You what?" Robin asked bewildered.

She flicked her yoyo across to a nearby building and with a pull of the string was flying across from building to building.

"God she reminds me of that stupid spider." Robin said. 

"Agreed." Nightwing chuckled.

-&-

Ladybug jumped through the window and landed with a crash on the bed then detransformed.

"Marinette, you can't keep doing this. You're killing yourself!" Tikki screamed out worried for her holder.

"It's okay Tikki."

"Marinette, if you're not going to stop for me, then at least do it for the child! You could have a miscarriage! You're slowly depleting your own life span Marinette. I'm worried about you. Especially after what you did in Paris. Please Mari. I'm begging you! Stop!"

Marinette's heart broke watching the mini-God break apart. Tikki was always cheerful no matter the situation and would always be the one to cheer her up in the worst situations. And yet here she was practically having a mental break down in front of her.

"Tikki I-"

"Marinette we're home!" 

She jumped as Jason's voice ricocheted of the walls and made their way into her ears.

Tikki hid and Marinette flew into her bed and grabbed a book from the bookshelf pretending to be reading.

She yelped when she heard a knock from the door. "Can we come in?" She heard Tim's voice from the other side of the door.

"Yes."

The door flew open.

"Is there a hero called Ladybug in Paris?" Jason asked.

She feigned shock, "Ladybug? Of course! She's famous! Why?"

"We just met her." Damian answered from the door frame.

"She's here? No way! What's she doing here?" Marinette answered.

"Apparently, she moved here from France. Do you know why the hero from France would move away from the country she's supposed to be protecting?"

Marinette flinched, "No. Maybe she's just here for a vacation."

"A vacation in Gotham?" Damian scoffed, "Yeah right."

Dick eyed the girl on the bed before saying, "Her costume's ridiculous."

Marinette glared at the boy. How dare he! "W-Well what matters is that she's saving the town, not how she looks doing it."

Dick smirked. "Well it's time we make ourselves scarce, we don't want to interrupt you reading."

Marinette smiled as they left the room.

"Oh and Mari." Jason said in the doorway. 

"Yes?"

"You should change your hairstyle when you transform, pigtails are so childish."

The other men barked into laughter from the hallway.

Shit.

They weren't called the best detectives in Gotham for nothing.


	5. Nicknames and Overprotective Waynes

"I swear Marinette, if your ass and that chair do not form a connection, I will personally tie you to it!"

"Jeez, chill Jason. I was just getting the remote."

"Well what if you tripped over whilst getting it, or twisted your ankle! The baby Mari! Think about the baby!"

Marinette rolled her eyes as she sat back on the couch. After they'd discovered she was pregnant, they'd started watching her 24/7 and catering to her every need. A normal person would love all the attention they were receiving, however she just felt plain guilty.

Tim chuckled as he entered the room and handed her the remote sitting on the coffee table.

"Thanks."

"He's just looking out for you in his own way."

"I know. But-" she paused, "But don't you think that you guys are worrying just a bit too much?" she clicked on a channel then moved her gaze to Tim's. "I mean, I can take care of myself. You don't have to treat me like I'm some..some Goddess."

"We know. It's just," he sighed, "We're not really good with kids. Heck, the youngest kid I've ever taken care of is Damian and when we first met him, he acted like he was twice his age!"

Marinette giggled; that sounded like Damian alright.

"We just don't want to see you get hurt."

She nodded. They were so sweet that it made her heart swell. After the suffering she'd gone through with Adrien, she finally felt at peace here. They accepted her. The last time she'd felt this was with Luka. Speaking off, how was he? And Alya too. And Nino. She hadn't contacted them since she'd run away. They were probably worried sick thinking that she was dead in a ditch somewhere.

"Marinette?"

She was broken out of her stupor by the sound of another deep voice. She turned her head to be met with the sight of Damian watching her, worry in his eyes. When had he gotten here?

"U-um." He continued, "I just wanted to apologise for what I did. I-"

"It's okay. I'd feel pretty aggravated too if a person I had to live with was ignoring me."

He smiled but quickly retracted it the moment he remembered who else was in the room. But it was too late.

Tim gasped and Jason shot out of his seat. Were their eyes playing tricks on them? Did the impossible just become possible? Did Damian Wayne _just_ smile???

"Oh. My-" Tim began only to be interrupted.

"No fucking way!" Jason exclaimed, "Marinette, you have no idea what you've just done!"

Damian grumbled and watched the pair. Drama Kings much?

Marinette chuckled awkwardly.

"I thought I would never live to see this day!" Jason grinned. "DRAKE! PLEASE TELL ME YOU GOT THAT ON CAMERA!"

"I-I." Tim eyed his phone on the coffee table, "Shit!"

"What's going on in here?" Dick entered the room sweating after he'd just come back from a run.

"Marinette just made Damian smile!" Tim screamed at his brother.

A loud thud was heard as Dick's water bottle crashed onto the floor. He groaned. He'd just missed something he would probably never live to see again! Unless..

"Marinette, whatever you just did, do it again!" 

"Uh-Um." Marinette looked at Dick then back to Damian, "I'd feel pretty aggravated too if a person I had to live with was ignoring me?" A sweat rolled down her cheek and Damian only frowned. He wasn't going to fall for such a petty trick.

"C'mon Baby bird, smileee." Tim pouted as he made his way over to his baby brother with a phone now in hand and his camera turned on recording the boy.

"Speaking of birds." Dick began, "We still haven't given Marinette a nickname. _Every_ Wayne has to have a nickname!"

Tim sighed as he gave up his attempt to lift the corners of Damian's lips and instead sat on the couch. "What about Red bird?" he recommended.

Dick shook his head, "Naah, that doesn't roll of the tongue." he wracked his brain for a name, "What about Ladybird?"

Jason chuckled, "That's even worse!"

"Angel." The men turned to the voice. Tim grinned, "Angel?"

Damian nodded but then averted his gaze when he looked up to notice all eyes on him. He stuttered, "I-I mean because I'm demon spawn due to my personality so Marinette should be angel because-"

"Because she's like an angel?" Jason responded, a smirk on his face. Damian nodded. 

Dick eyed his younger brother. He was so in love with the blue eyed girl that it was actually ridiculous.

Tim broke the silence as he clapped his hands, "Angel it is!"

Marinette chuckled. Bit by bit she was becoming part of their family. But then she frowned, "Does that mean you're all my brothers now?"

Damian shifted uneasily in his seat. Tim's eyes widened. Dick froze as he reached for the bottle he'd dropped a few minutes ago. It was Jason that spoke, "I guess so."

Marinette smiled. Not a fake smile or a small smile, but a smile that reached up to her eyes and spread warmth around the room, "Okay big bro."

Jason almost burst out crying. He'd never been called big bro before! heck, he'd never even had a younger sister before! 

"Hold up." All eyes were on Tim as he spoke, "We have a nickname that compliments her personality, but we don't have one for her superhero persona."

Before anyone could answer, Dick piped up, "Baby bug!" 

"Baby bug it is!" Tim answered.

"Ah um, sorry but that's already taken." The boys followed the voice to Marinette, "Plagg already calls me that."

"Who's Plagg?" Damian asked now speaking and directing the woman with his full attention.

"Oh, sorry. You've already met Tikki, my kwami, but I forgot to let you meet Plagg, the kwami of the black cat."

"I see." Dick piped in again, "Well I personally am very proud of this nickname. It's my best invention yet. So I suppose he could just shar-"

"I don't share."

Everyone turned to the black floating cat who'd just come whizzing out of Marinette's pocket at the sound of his voice.

"Holy cow!" Tim shouted. "Where the hell did you come from?"

Plagg rolled his eyes and repeated, "I. Do. Not. Share. Find your own nickname."

Marinette chuckled as she watched the grumpy cat; she didn't think he was the jealous type. 

"Sorry bud, but it's final. Marinette is now known as Baby Bug!" Jason answered.

Dick burst out laughing at the realisation he'd just made. "Look at Damian." Damian's frown doubled as everyone's eyes now layed on him. "Now look at the cat."

Plagg grumbled under his breath. Who did these mortals think they were. He wasn't an attraction or some decoration for them to look at all day!

"Ha!" Tim's eyes widened, "I see it! They look exactly alike!"

At this, Marinette burst out laughing. She looked from Damian to Plagg and back again and only smiled more when she met identical green eyes piercing into hers. They were so compatible!

Then she froze. Compatible? 

"Woah. Mari, the more you stare at Damian, the more I think you're falling in love with him." Tim chucked only to stop when he noticed that her smile was gone and was now replaced with something her couldn't read. "Mari?"

Jason waved a hand infront of her face. Nothing. Her eyes widened as she continued to stare into his green ones. "Hey Marinette are you okay?" It was now Dick that spoke. No answer.

Tikki flew out of her chosen's pocket and tapped her cheek worried for the woman. She didn't answer.

The brothers and kwamis watched as the two young adults stared at each other, Damian's eyes filled with confusion and Marinette's filled with something unreadable. 

Then she shivered and broke her gaze.

"You okay?" Tim asked.

"Where the hell did you go?" Dick asked.

"Did you get lost in Demon Spawn's eyes?" Jason chuckled attempting to ease the tension in the room.

"Marinette?" Tikki flew closer to her chosen and stared into her eyes attempting to read them. But when she lifted her hand (do kwamis have hands???) to stroke her cheek, Marinette flinched and cleared her throat.

"U-Um. I'm going to my room." Marinette groaned as she attempted to lift herself up. She huffed. This damn baby bump was in her way!

"Need help?" She nodded allowing Tim to pull her up and steady her on her feet. She then proceeded to walk out the door stumbling but catching herself with a nearby chair and was then out the door. Tikki and Plagg shared a look before following her.

"What the hell did you do?" Dick asked Damian.

"Why do you always assume that everything's my fault?" Damian frowned.

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe because she was looking at you!" Tim answered.

Damian shrugged. Then huffed, stood up and left before quickly calling out, "I'm going out." The front door then slammed.

-&-

"Marinette, are you okay?" Tikki asked the woman shivering in front of her.

"Baby bug?" 

Her face was pale as she let her mind wander.

Blood. Glass. A broken bottle. Her parents. Adrien. So much blood...


	6. Deaths and Realisations

Blood.

_Marinette gasped as she watched the blood drop from his hand._

Glass.

_Her gaze then caught a glint as the rising sun made its way in through the window and caught on a piece of glass that soon turned to many; they looked so beautiful, like crystals. But deadly._

A broken bottle.

_Her ears ringed and her head throbbed as she took in the bottle in his hand._

Her parents.

_Their screams were tattooed in her ears as she heard them over and over again before all went silent and all that could be heard was her whimpering and his uneven breathing as he looked at the mess he'd just made on their kitchen floor._

Adrien.

_"A-A-Adrien?" her voice almost a whisper as she looked at the young man in font of her._

_"Shut up Marinette."_

_"Adrien?" her voice more frantic._

_"I said shut up Marinette!" his voice wavering._

_"A-Adrien. W-W-" her voice cracked as hot tears began to spill down her eyes, "What did you do!"_

_He turned his head and took a step towards her only for her to take an even larger one back. Her eyes wandered around from him to the adults laying on the floor and then to the broken bottle in his hand. Then he dropped it, the noise echoing through the room._

_She didn't know what just happened but at the same time, she knew. Her senses were working but were working separately. She couldn't- didn't want to know what just happened but she couldn't bring herself to even think that this was all a dream._

_"M-M-Mama." She took a step towards the adults. "P-P-P-Pa-" her voice croaked. "A-A-A-" she couldn't even form a proper word._

_Meanwhile, Adrien was having a mini panic attack himself. His gaze went from his bloody hand to the bottle that was rolling away and then to Marinette. He ran a hand through his hair and then looked back towards the adults, their faces oozing with the red liquid and their arms and legs in almost impossible positions._

_Then she screamed._

So much blood.

So. Much. Blood.

-&-

"Are you okay Marinette?"

The memory in her head was cut off by Tikki's voice.

"They shouldn't be compatible." she whispered then directed her gaze towards Tikki, "You told me that the miraculous jewels always choose right. So why is it that Damian seems so compatible with Plagg when Adrien-"

"Marinette" Tikki cut in, "At the time, the miraculous chose right, however it seems that now, it has chosen another wielder. A better one."

"But. But Adrien isn't dead yet. I can still feel his life energy. I saw him!"

"Marinette. " it was now plagg that spoke, "Death doesn't choose whether or not a wielder's job is over, the miraculous does."

"But-But why Damian?"

"I can feel it Mari, he's perfect. Adrian was a good wielder and I hate to say it, but I did have quite a soft spot for him. But he turned against you. The ladybug and black cat are like yin and yang. If one drops, the other does too. He's dropped and I don't want the same to happen to you. So I cut our ties. Adrien is no longer a black cat and I'm not the only one that agrees. I can feel it, the big guy agrees with me too."

"The big guy?"

"The one who created the miraculous. The creator of all. Us miraculi are pieces of His ultimate weapon and when joined together, we-"

"Plagg." Tikki warned .

"Ah, sorry, I can't say anymore let's leave it at that."

"Wait what do you mean pieces of His ultim-"

"Marinette, the point is that Adrien is bad and Damian is good. End of conversation. Now, to bed good night!"

Marinette glared at the kwamis before huffing and turning her lamp off. "Whatever."

-&-

"Tikki we have to tell her."

"No."

"She's losing trust in us! Besides she's going to find out someday! You heard her, she can feel his life energy!"

"No! She's been through so much. Telling her would only break her more. She's safe here. With them."

"Tikki, you know it too. The real reason I broke my ties with Adrien. You know that she's not safe."

Tikki sighed. "We can't talk about this now. The only thing we can do at this point is support her and the child. We have to protect the child. He's coming to get him!"

Plagg's face lit up, "It's a he?!"

Tikki rolled her eyes, "It's pretty obvious. Can't you sense it?"

Now that she mentioned it, he could. Plagg loved males! He didn't have anything against she-males - or whatever humans called them - but most of his previous cat wielders had been women and he'd almost cried out in joy when he'd gotten Adrien, a boy. Boys were so much easier for him to control; girls were too attentive.

Tikki watched the gears spin around in Plagg's head and chuckled as she watched him light up. He was so adorable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, I just wanted to upload today.


	7. Plagg, meet Alfred

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's take a break from all the drama and angst for a while in this sweet, short chapter.

Plagg yawned as he awoke from his slumber, the light from the window burning his petite figure. Tikki smiled at him from across the room as she sat on the vanity and Marinette peeked over the top of her book giving the cat a warm smile before going back to it. 

He hissed, "I'm melting! It buuuurns."

Tikki rolled her eyes and stuffed a cookie in her mouth. 

A 'meow' from the door caught their attention.

"Awwww, how precious!" Tikki flew down to the tuxedo cat beckoning it in. 

The cat watched her for a while before flicking it's paw at her attempting to catch her. 

She let out a yelp and flew higher shooting a glare at the floating black cat.

"Plagg! Don't laugh! I could've gotten seriously injured!"

"Did you see our face! Priceless!" He flew down to the tuxedo cat still at the doorway eyeing him curiously, "I like you."

The cat purred as if noticing Plagg's acknowledgement and taking it to heart.

Marinette placed her book down and faced the little entourage. 

"His name's Alfred."

"I thought Alfred was the butler." Tikki piped up.

"He is as well."

"The cat's a butler?" Plagg asked.

"No, the cat's is also named Alfred."

"So you're telling me," Plagg pointed at himself, "that they named the cat after the butler?"

Marinette nodded.

"Yeesh. This family's getting weirder and weirder."

"Says the mini-God in the form of a floating, talking black cat."

Plagg held his paws up, "At least I don't have to share names. I've always found it so strange how so many humans have the same name. I mean, don't you get confused?"

Marinette opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by the feeling of something on her legs.

Plagg's eyes widened and Tikki cooed. 

"Awwww." Marinette scratched the cat's fur eliciting soft purrs, "Oh my gosh I could just die! You're too adorable!"

Plagg winced. "No! No no no! Nope!"

The two women (or woman and mini-Goddess) eyed Plagg as he made his way over.

"I liked you before _Alfred_ so I advise you to not get on my nerves!"

"Jeez, calm down. He's just a cat." 

The so called 'just a cat' purred again and snuggled against Marinette's stomach before eyeing Plagg.

"Did you see that!" Plagg screamed as he pointed at the feline, "It just marked its territory! It's purposely trying to rile me up!"

"Plagg!"

Plagg wasn't listening to the women as he flew in closer, but not too close, and spat out, "I am a GOD! Get your own lap!"

Alfred hissed.

Plagg also hissed.

"Did he just--"

"I will count to three and if you are not off her lap, I will incinerate you!"

"Plagg--"

"1!" Alfred's eyes narrowed.

"2!" He stretched out on her lap making himself comfortable.

"3!" Plagg narrowed his eyes and looked at the cat in disgust. "That's it! CATA--"

"I believe it is time for Alfred to eat." 

All eyes were drawn to the door where another figure stood.

"Alfred!" Marinette beamed. "Perfect timing as always."

The tips of Alfred's lips slightly turned up. Her joy was very contagious. "May I?" 

She nodded.

He entered the room and scooped up Alfred (the cat) before leaving.

Plagg grinned, "Serves you right! You dare go against me! A GOD!"

"Give it a rest." Tikki sighed.

Marinette beamed at the jealous black cat. "Plagg you know you'll always be my favourite cat. But uh-" her eyebrows furrowed slightly, "you realise that my lap's big enough for the both of you right?"

Plagg turned to the girl, obvious annoyance written on his face but not directed at her, "Did I not mention it before when those bat brother - whatever their names are - were choosing your nicknames! I. Do. Not. SHARE!"

"But you're sharing me with Tikki." she pointed out.

He turned to the red kwami and then back to her, "That's because she's Tikki. She's an exception."

Tikki smiled.

Marinette's eyes narrowed, "So what're you gonna do when I'm getting married?"

Plagg looked at her as if that was the easiest question on Earth, "Simple, you just won't get married!"


	8. Hospital Beds Are So Uncomfortable

Her eyes flickered open adjusting to the light threatening to blind her. 

"I think she's waking up!"

She turned her head to the side and was met with darkness as she looked outside the window and peered at the bright moon.

"Marinette!"

She turned her head to the other side, following the voice calling her name and was met with the sight of a frantic Damian. Well that's a sight to behold.

"Father, she's awake!"

A cluster of voices spoke at once directing their attention to her. She could barely make out a thing they were saying.

"Be quiet!" Bruce snapped.

The room went quiet and all eyes landed back on her as she murmured something.

"What was that?" Tim asked.

"What happened?" she responded, her voice awfully groggy as she help her hand up and rubbed her head, the ache messing with her thoughts.

Jason responded, his voice light and cheery but still worried, "You don't remember? We were on patrol and we told you to stay home but you were like 'nooo just because I'm pregnant, doesn't mean I'm useless' and then some group of serial killers or whatever attacked and although we told you we could handle it, you still stepped in and tried to use that lucky charm thing of yours and then you collapsed."

"Huh?"

- **A few hours Prior** -

The night was old and the streets almost merged into one as the darkness filled every corner. 

Three dark figures jumped from roof to roof and the unmistakable sound of laughter was heard as the two in front taunted the one behind.

"You're too slow!" Red Robin chuckled as Robin followed behind.

"You're too fast!" he retorted.

"Just hurry up, we don't have all night!" Red hood snapped.

"Why isn't Nightwing joining us?" Robin asked.

"He's busy with something."

"I bet he's making out with Barbara in a hotel or something."

"Do you want to finish this patrol or not!" Red hood complained, "The longer we spend out here, the more--woah!"

He narrowly avoided a string aimed at his feet and barely reached the next roof.

"Who the fu--"

"Language!" a voice called as two red feet landed with a tiny thump on the concrete.

Robin sighed holding the bridge of his nose and shaking him head. 

"Ladybug!" Red Robin snapped, "What the hell are you doing here!"

Ladybug smiled and did a little twirl, the red ribbon in her hair fluttering in the wind and drawing attention to the fact that her normal twin pigtails were nowhere to be found.

"Do you like my bun?" she grinned, "After your recommendation, I changed it into a more...mature look."

Red Hood ignored her comment, "We told you to stay at home!"

"But I'm so bored at home all alone!" 

What was she talking about? Bruce and Alfred were--oh. How idiotic of him! Anyone could've been listening in to their conversation!

He sighed. "Go home! You're pregnant for flips sake! How do you even feel comfortable wearing that spandex with a baby--" He looked at her stomach; it was flat. 

His eyes went wide, "Where the hell is your baby?

All eyes went to her stomach. She squirmed under their gaze. 

"Don't worry! It's safe. It's in the void."

"Excuse me?" Robin answered.

Oh yeah, she still hadn't talked to them about where Tikki went after she transformed.

"To make things short, when I transform, my kwami goes into what I call a 'void' where only I can talk to and hear her. It's like an endless amount of space where we can communicate with each other."

"So your fetus is in an endless amount of space designed for a kwami?"

She nodded.

"I'm not even going to ask."

She turned towards Red hood. "Just because I'm pregnant, doesn't mean I'm useless!"

Red hood's eyes narrowed and he grumbled. "Okay, so let's say you get stabbed or--"

"Our suits are stab-proof."

"Or!" he screamed, "You get injured and die! What'll happen to your baby then?"

She sighed, "Okay, fine! I'll stay out of your way but I am NOT going back home!"

Ugh. What an annoyingly persistent sister they had.

"Ladybug, if you get in my way, I'll--"

A knife whizzed just centimetres away from his face.

"Get down!" Robin screamed.

Robin drew his sword and Red hood pulled out his handgun. Red Robin scanned the area.

"Red Hood, incoming at ten o' clock!" he screamed

Another knife whizzed past. Red hood shot at it sending it hurtling towards the ground. 

A few more knives came out of the shadows. 

"What the hell!" Red Robin snapped, "There's no end to them!"

A knife came hurtling towards Ladybug but she blocked it with her yoyo.

"Ladybug get down!" Robin screamed. 

"But--"

"For once, just listen to what I say! Please!"

She huffed and made cover behind a block of cement watching as the boys hit knife after knife.

It was when a grenade rolled it's way into the scene that she jumped back up calling for her lucky charm - despite Tikki's warning - and sent it flying back in the direction it came, the darkness momentarily lightening up to reveal a group of men not knocked out cold.

"Ha!" she laughed as she directed her attention back to them, "See, I can be usefu--"

Everything went dark.

- **Present** -

"Oh." She chuckled, a sweat rolling down her face.

"We had to carry you home, change and then wait until you detransformed before bringing you to the hospital." Jason answered.

"Damian here was freaking out when you fainted. He thought you were dead and was running around life a headless chicken suggesting we take you to the Lazarus Pits."

Damian's cheeks grew pink as he frowned. She looked at him but he averted her gaze. Wow, the floor looked extra shiny today.

"Is there something you're not telling us?" Bruce's deep voice hit the walls as he stared at her, you could just about make out the suspicion in his eyes.

"What?" she answered, confusion in her voice.

Jason answered, "The doctors ran a few tests on you and found no reason for you to faint."

"I'll ask again, "Bruce's voice unwavering, "Is there something you're not telling us?"

Marinette gulped. She knew exactly why she'd fainted but the question was whether or not to tell them.

She sighed, may as well be honest. Even if she did lie, they would just see right through it.

"It's a long story, but when I was in Paris, I tried to bring my parents back to life with my miraculous and let's just say the consequences of trying to mess with nature were less than ideal."

"Your parents are dead?" Tim asked, flabbergasted. He'd researched everything about her (besides her measurements because that would be inappropriate and rude) and there was not one thing that mentioned dead parents!

"Yes," her heart wept but she kept her voice neutral, "Adrien murdered them."


	9. Wake Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realised that I haven't been focusing much on Marinette's feelings and stuff and how her past trauma has started to affect her so from now on, things will be getting a lot deeper as I slow down and focus more on her emotions and what she does to bear with it. [Trigger Warning]

Her eyes opened to darkness. The room was silent and was filled with the slow beeping of the heart monitor next to her bed. She looked to the left looking for her purse but the table was empty. Her eyebrows furrowed as she frowned. She slowly lifted herself up wincing at the throbbing pain in her head when she swung her legs down to touch the floor. When skin met tile, it sent a shiver down her spine. Where were her shoes? She slowly stood up allowing her feet to adjust to the new temperature of the floor and made her way to the window where she pulled the curtain aside. It was dark. She looked at the clock but it had stopped ticking and instead stood ground at exactly 2 in the morning; the hour-hand dead on 12 and the minute-hand dead on 2. 

She shivered as a small gust of wind came in from the window and hit her shoulders, the hospital gown weakly swaying before coming to a stop. When had she changed her clothes? She looked at the window debating whether or not to close it. The sound of cars filled the room before they were silenced when she shut the window drowning out the noise. When had she opened the window?

She looked around again. Her door was left slightly ajar. Where had everyone gone? Had she fallen asleep and they left without saying goodbye? She tried to think back but her thoughts became fuzzy. She huffed. Whatever. She was starving and apparently she'd missed lunch time so the best she could do now was to go out, find a nurse and ask for something to eat. 

The door creaked as she opened it. She looked around but found the place empty as well. The hallway was dark albeit there were a few lights turned on allowing her to see down it. "Hello?" Her voice bounced off the walls echoing down the hall and dissipated into the air as though it hadn't appeared in the first place. When no answer came, she walked further down. She knocked on the next room but when no answer came, she opened it to find the bed empty as well. It had definitely been slept on but the sleeper was nowhere to be found. She frowned again, her lip twitching in worry. When she came to the next door, it was opened and she peeked in to find another bed empty; definitely slept in but the sleeper nowhere to be found. This spiked at the fear building in her stomach.

The sound of her footsteps grew as her pace increased; the sweat from her feet sticking to the tiled floor before ripping themselves off and carrying on with their journey. "Hello?" Her voice wavered as it grew in depth. The hospital was active 24/7 no matter what time of day so where the hell was everyone? She could see the elevator coming into sight as she paced down the hall. She stopped and moved to press the button but froze as a 'ding' was heard and the doors opened as though expecting her. She looked back at the dimly lit hallway before stepping into the box of metal. The door closed leaving her to make her decision as to which floor she would go to. Her eyes widened when she looked to the buttons and only found the number '2'. No alarm button. No ground floor, no 1st floor, no 3rd or 4th or anything else. Just 2. What the hell was going on?

She pressed the button watching as the elevator moved from whatever floor she was at now and moved. She couldn't tell whether she was moving up or down but jumped at the 'ding' indicating she'd reached her destination. The doors slowly opened to reveal another hallway almost identical to the other one but being more spacious. She stepped out and they closed behind her. 

She looked around. It seemed the only place to go was forward. Hopefully she would find someone along the way. She walked down flinching when a light flickered before turning off. Another light broke. A normal person would turn around, however, she was no normal person. She was Marinette Dupain-Cheng, wielder of the Ladybug miraculous and temporary wielder of the black cat and horse. She continued forward before hearing a noise. She squinted her eyes as she saw a figure running towards her and lifted her arms up in defence but lowered them when she saw it was a nurse. The nurse slowed down when she reached her. "Um excuse me, where is everyone?" The nurse shrugged before speeding up. "I'm sorry, I'm in a rush, I have to go."

Marinette called after her but stopped when she disappeared out of view leaving her by herself. She had so many questions. Like, where the hell was everyone? Why was it so dark? Why could she still hear her heart monitor when she'd left it in her room? She felt a tug of pain at her stomach and placed a hand on it freezing when she realised it was flat. And where the hell was her baby?

-&-

She'd been walking around for what seemed like forever before she heard the faint sound of what seemed to be...crying? Or more specifically, a baby. 

She followed the noise stopping outside the door of the baby's ward and slowly opened it. She looked around. The cribs were empty. The noise stopped before a sniffle was heard behind her. She swerved herself around to be met with the sight of a crib tucked in the corner. Another sniffle followed after. She crooked her head slightly to the left curious before walking to the crib. She looked over the wooden sighed and smiled at the cooing baby staring back at her. He was beautiful. His raven hair blended in with the darkness of the room but his green eyes pierced through the dark veil and almost glowed in the darkness. She lifted him up laughing when he grabbed for her finger and squeezed it before dozing back to sleep. She slowly placed him back in. As soon as his skin touched the cotton of the blanket, another cry was heard. She turned back around to be met with the sight of another baby. Also a boy. When she moved to pick him up, he stopped crying and opened his eyes to stare at her. He was almost a clone of the first baby. The only difference was that his eyes were a beautiful ocean blue resembling her own. She put him back in his cot and watched as he too fell asleep. 

Everywhere went silent again and only the soft snoozes from the babies and the beeping of her heart monitor - that she was certain was still in her room where she'd left it beside her bed - was heard. She slowly closed the door to the baby's ward but froze when she heard the unmistakable sound of a gun cocking. She slowly turned around to only gasp when she she saw Damian kneeling behind her and a gun pressed against his head. She slowly looked up to the owner of said gun and let out a sob at who was pressing the gun into her friend's head. 

"Adrien, what the hell are you doing?" Her voice once again echoed down the hall and stopped when it reached the two men at the end. The beeping of her heart monitor increased almost instantly accompanied by the sound of the blood rushing around in her body heating up her skin and allowing tiny droplets of sweat through her pores.

Adrien pushed the gun further into Damian's head, his frown deepening and his blonde hair darkened by the hood over his head.

"Adrien--please--" her voice croaked. She swallowed attempting to apply her tongue with moisture. "Please, don't--"

"On one condition." His voice pierced through. 

"A-Anything." She knew her voice was barely a whisper and she almost couldn't recognise it. It had never sounded so...weak..before.

His eyes pierced through hers and his voice boomed despite being a whisper. "Wake up."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

He growled. "Too slow."

She threw her hands forward, her mouth opened to ask him to wait but it was too late. The sound of the bullet ricocheted off the walls and echoed in her head. Her view shrouded with black and everything went dark.

-&-

Her eyes shot open before they narrowed squinting at the light threatening to blind her. She took a slow breath out. That nightmare had left her shaking. She slowly lifted herself up and yawned but froze at the sound of shuffling next to her. She slowly turned her head before her eyes widened and she let out what should've been an inhumane screech and jumped out of bed covering herself with part of the duvet.

The man next to her shot up and blinked adjusting to the light before scanning the room and reaching into the first draw of the nightstand on his side pulling out a hand gun and yelling, "What's going on? Are we under attack?" He cocked his gun ready for attack but when his eyes met hers, he shoulders slumped and he relaxed rubbing a hand down his face and putting the gun back to safety before placing it back in the drawer. A frown adorned his features but replaced itself with a more relaxed look. "You scared the hell out of me, are you okay?"

"Of course I'm not okay!" she screamed, "What the hell are you doing in my bed?"

He stared at her confused before swinging his legs off the bed and rounding it to her side. She slowly backed away pulling the duvet along with her as she held it to her chest covering the nightgown she was currently wearing. He stopped when he noticed her retreating and sighed. "Did you have another nightmare?"

She stared at him confused watching his muscles under his tank top as he lifted his hand again to rub at his eyes. She lowered her gaze but shot it back up when she realised he was only wearing boxers down there. She flinched when he wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her cheek before retreating back to the other side to pull on a pair of sweatpants. When he turned around and found her still stood where she was before holding the duvet to her chest and shaking, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. 

He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the sound of the bedroom door opening and the soft footsteps of a toddler. He beamed instantly and lifted the giggling boy into his arms before pressing a kiss into his hair and spinning him around. "There's my little demon!" The boy giggled before turning his head to Marinette and sending her a toothy grin. "Good morning mama!"

Marinette watched the encounter with a frown. "Damian, why the hell did he just call me 'mama'?"

Damian frowned and the young boy's eyebrows furrowed in concern before he whispered something in the man's ear. Damian smiled before setting him back down on the floor and ushering him out of the room. 

He turned around and met her eyes again smiling. "Hugo's going to make a marshmallow toastie, you'd better stop him before he burns the place down."

Marinette took a step forward. Her grip on the duvet slackened and it fell to the floor. "Who's Hugo?" 

Damian's lip twitched and he placed a hand on her forehead checking for her temperature. 

"Damian, who the hell is Hugo?" 

Damian took a step back watching her face as though analysing every movement and replied. "Our son."

"Since when did we have a son? Heck, since when did we get together?"

His frown deepened and his voice laced with worry. "Since we got married 2 years ago and you gave birth to him 3 years ago--Marinette, are you okay?"

She shook her head gripping onto her forehead when a sharp pain shot through. "Where's the other one?"

He took a step forward pulling her back into his arms. He was so warm. "Other one?"

She pushed herself out of his arms, instantly missing the warmth, and looked up staring straight into his eyes. "The other baby."

"Mari, we only had one."

She gasped as her vision shrouded with black spots and looked down to find red liquid staining her gown. She held a hand to her stomach and pressed on it to try and soothe the pain but the blood kept coming. Then everything went dark.

-&-

Her eyes opened to a blur of red and black. She blinked a few times trying to clear her vision and found a frantic Tikki hovering in front of her face.

Tikki sighed. "Oh thank Gods. You weren't waking up. You scared me so much!"

She slowly sat up, her hand shooting instinctively to her eyes wiping at the tears dripping down her cheeks. "Tikki, what happened?" 

"You were crying in your sleep. I couldn't wake you up!"

Marinette sighed rubbing at her eyes. "Tikki, I just had the weirdest dreams."

Tikki held a hand to her face. "Wait. Before you continue--"

"You have fingers."

Tikki tilted her head. "What?"

Marinette stared at the hand in front of her face and repeated herself. "You have fingers."

Tikki looked at her hand and sure enough there were five red fingers. She looked back up to Marinette and everything went dark again.

-&-

"Marinette!"

She shot up screaming, heavy tears streaming down her face as she violently kicked her legs backing herself into the corner of her bed where it met the wall.

"Marinette!" She looked up to the sight of the Wayne brothers standing by her bed. 

Her voice died down as she stopped screaming but the heavy tears only grew as she gasped for air. 

"Marinette, calm down!" She turned to Jason's voice. "In." she breathed in. "Out." She breathed out. "C'mon Mari, in." She breathed in. "Now out." She breathed out. "One more time, in." She breathed in. "Out." She breathed out regaining air into her lungs and taking a few more deep breaths before she calmed down, her heart racing in her chest. She shot her hand down to her stomach and sighed in relief when she felt the familiar bump. 

The tension in the room cooled down as the brothers sighed in relief. She looked up to Jason. "Let me see your hand."

His eyebrows creased, "What?" She huffed with impatience grabbing his hand and counting the fingers. 5. 5 long fingers. Good. She released his hand and wiped the sweat on her brow picking at her shirt to allow cold air to brush against her skin. She looked back up to Jason. "Thank you." He nodded.

"Night terrors." All eyes turned to the voice. Tim repeated himself. "Night terrors. You just had a night terror."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! I haven't written a chapter this long in a while! XD For those wondering why Marinette counted Jason's fingers, it's because apparently if you're dreaming, you can have some sort of strange thing going on like an extra amount of fingers, so when she found that his fingers had an even amount, she sighed in relief because she knew she wasn't dreaming.


	10. Two sides

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I don't really know much about pregnancy (I should've done my research) but right now, Marinette's in her first trimester. Also, it's been too long! I'm sorry guys! So, enjoy! :-)
> 
> [ **Warning** ] Angst ahead. Proceed with caution.
> 
> Also, I got the information of night terrors online so I take like no credit!

She sighed as she stapled yet another missing persons flier onto yet another wall and proceeded across the street to go and put another one up.

Marinette had been missing for a few weeks now and not one person had caught sight of her before or after the events of those few nights ago. She cringed at the memory of the police tape and the corpses. Her parents. When she'd told her told her to run in that last phone call, she'd been hoping for her to at least tell her where she was going. But instead she'd chosen to disappear.

She wiped away a tear dropping down her cheek and sniffed before a hand on her shoulder and a soothing voice turned her around.

Nino smiled contrasting the red of his eyes; remnants of his tears. "I've finished on my side. How about we go grab a croissant from the Dupain-Chengs and meet up with the others?"

Alya nodded. Yeah. That was a good idea. As they began to walk, she looked up at him.

"Can we grab a few macaroons as well?" Marinette loved macaroons.

-&-

"What's a night terror?" Marinette pulled her cover closer to herself covering her sleep attire from the other 14 eyes on her.

"It's kind of like a nightmare and sleepwalking put together. However, unlike sleepwalking, it's an episode of screaming, intense fear and flailing."

Marinette huffed. Just why did she have to suffer so much? Was this some sort of cruel joke the gods were playing on her?

"You need a therapist."

She looked at Jason. "What?"

He crossed his arms over his chest. "We should've taken you to a therapist the moment we learnt about all of this."

Her head shook. "You're not sending me to a shrink."

"Mari--"

"No!" She wrapped the cover around herself. "You're not sending me to someone! I don't want you to! I don't want to! You can't!"

Dick sighed. "Fine, we won't but you have to talk to someone. You need to talk to us."

She shook her head. "No!"

"Mari--"

A red hand stopped him as Tikki flew forward. "Marinette." Marinette almost shook. Tikki had never looked so serious. "This is not up to negotiation. I've let you run free for too long. Whether you like it or not, you have...no, must..start listening to me! You have to listen to my warnings or you'll squeeze yourself dry. You can't keep running from your fears, you have to face them."

Marinette turned her head away from the kwami. Tikki sighed in annoyance (Yes people, Tikki is annoyed! Tikki!) and flew closer. "Listen to me Marinette! This partnership won't work if you don't." She paused waiting but when Marinette kept her gaze on the window, she carried on. "These night terrors. They're a mix of your fears and desires." Marinette's head whipped back to face the kwami.

"Desires?"

Tikki nodded. "I don't know what you saw but your mind is trying to tell you something. Tell me what you saw."

Marinette hesitated before she shifted into a more comfortable position on the bed and stared at Tikki attempting to erase the view of all the other eyes on her then spoke. "I woke up in the hospital. My clothes had changed and no one was there. I was all alone. The room was dark - everywhere was just so dark. And-And I couldn't stop hearing my heart beat. It just kept getting louder and louder-" she lifted her hands to her ears and shut her eyes "and louder the more I walked. The clock was frozen at two in the morning. The hallways were dark and were lit up by a few lights so I could see where I was going but I couldn't see what was in front of me. There was an elevator but it only had the second floor. A nurse passed by me in a rush and she said that she had to go and then I heard crying. A baby. No. Two babies. They were so beautiful!" she smiled "They had the same hair as me but had different eyes that almost glowed in the dark; one had my blue eyes and the other eyes had...his eyes. They stopped crying when I picked them up and fell asleep. Such beautiful boys!" she laughed but then stopped and frowned. "But my baby was gone. My stomach was flat. And-And I heard a gun cocking and I turned around and-" a tear dropped down her cheek "and I-I-I saw--I saw-"

Tikki placed a hand on her cheek. "It's okay Mari, I'm here." 

Marinette sniffled. "Adrien. He was holding a-a gun to-to- Damian's head and-" she let out a sob "and I could hear my heart beating faster even though I was sure the heart monitor was still in my room and I could feel my blood rushing. He told me that he wouldn't shoot on one condition. That I woke up." 

"Anything else?"

Marinette's eyes found her way to Damian before they shot back to Tikki. This didn't go unnoticed. "Y-Yes. I didn't know what he meant and-and he said that I was too late and then-. And then I hear a gunshot and it was just so loud! I didn't see where it hit before everything went dark and I woke up and saw you. You were really worried and said that I'd been crying and-and you couldn't wake me up. I told you that I'd had the weirdest dreams-- _dream_ and you held up your hand telling me to wait. But-"

"But?"

Marinette sneaked a peek at Tikki's hands. "You had fingers. Five red fingers."

Tikki's eyes narrowed.

"Fingers?"

Marinette nodded. "Yeah it was really weird and no offence, but quite creepy as well."

Tikki nodded. "I see."

Tikki's eyes found Damian before she moved them back to Marinette. "You said 'dreams'."

"What?"

"You said that you had the weirdest 'dreams'."

Marinette shook her head and a said - a bit too quickly - "No I didn't."

Tikki's eyes narrowed again. "Don't lie to me Mari. Tell me what your desire was."

Marinette shook her head. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Her eyes subconsciously found Damian before she whipped them back to a suspicious Tikki.  
"Marinette. What was your desire!"

"I-I didn't have a desire. Or if I did then maybe it was seeing you have fingers. Maybe I've always wanted to see you with fingers. O-Or maybe I want to have twins or a kid with dark hair like mine and my blue eyes. Or maybe I just _really_ like dark hallways!"

"That's bullshit and you know it." Her eyes turned to Dick and she remembered his presence in the room along with the other men and kwamis watching her.

What should she say? She couldn't possibly tell them that she wanted to--that she wanted--. No! It was wrong! He was her brother! Well..adoptive brother. Either way, he'd probably be really disgusted in her! 

Tikki flew so close all Marinette could see was her eyes. "What was your desire Marinette!"

Her eyes flicked back to Damian and she held his gaze. "Um-uh-uhhh. Ugh!"

She pulled the cover over head head and lied down. 

"I don't want to tell you right now."

Tikki sighed. "Marinette--"

"No!" She pulled the covers back over her head and stood up. "I'm done listening! I don't want to tell you right now!"

Plagg flew forward. "Minibug--"

"I didn't ask for this! Any of this!" She indicated to the whole room. "I didn't ask for a miraculous, I didn't as for all this responsibility, I didn't ask for a flipping baby! I didn't ask for my parents death, I didn't ask for Adrien of his menstrual mood swings or anything!" 

She could feel her face getting hot and huffed but continued before anyone else could pick up where she left off. "I didn't ask for these stupid night terrors or the nightmares or the magic! Heck, I should just have an abortio--"

She was interrupted by a hand on her chin and green eyes piercing through her own bluebell ones. "Listen." For the first time, his voice shook her to the bone. No, past the bone and into the roots. **Deep** into the roots. "I don't know what happened. I don't know how you feel and I can't even pretend I know what you're going through with a whole other human being growing inside you but I do know that life is valuable." He gripped her chin tighter forcing her to wince. "It's more valuable than anything else in the entire universe and how ever many other universes there are out there. So don't you dare even consider that! Don't kill someone that hasn't even had a chance to experience life just because you're too irresponsible to let them!"

He let go of her chin but stayed in front of her. 

"I care about you and I care about that baby. You don't get to choose whether it lives or dies. No one should have power over life and death." 

"But--" 

"Don't but me Marinette! No matter what you've been through, this child still deserved to live. It's innocent. Even if you don't want it, someone else might." 

Was he offering she put it up for adoption? Wasn't that too cruel? 

"Dami--" 

Damian scoffed. "Why are you still trying to argue with me! You're just--you're--so damn weak!" 

At this, her eyes narrowed and her mouth was pulled into a frown. She lifted her hands and pushed him. He stumbled back surprised but stepped forward. "I'm not going to hit you Marinette. You're pregnant." 

She pushed him again but he didn't budge. She pushed him harder. It was as though she were trying to prove him wrong. That she wasn't weak. She was strong. As though she were trying to convince herself that she was strong. She was strong....right? No. She knew deep down that she was weak. Mentally weak. So weak. 

She let out a yell and punched him in the face. He didn't move. "Fight back dammit!" She punched him again. "Why aren't you fighting back!" She kicked his leg. 

Why weren't their brothers stopping her? Why were they just looking at her like--. Like--. 

She glared at them. "Stop looking at me like that!" She lunged towards them knowing full well that she wouldn't even be able to land a punch on them let alone take a step towards them before she was knocked to the floor and stopped midway. "Stop looking at me like--like I'm some little girl that just lost her parents! Stop pitying me!" 

They only stared longer. "Stop it!" She screamed. Why were they just standing there? Why had Damian let her punch him? Why were they letting her scream? Why were they looking at her like that? And why did she suddenly see Tim move and why did he just wrap his arms around her? And why was water dripping down her face? Was she crying? Why was she crying? 

"You're so lost." Damian's anger had long since dissipated and now he looked at her as though he'd seen this before. "You don't even know why you're in pain." As though he'd experienced this all before. "Your mind can't even process what's going on. Everything's moving too quickly for you. Life is happening too fast." 

As though he'd conquered this very same wall himself once before. 

She heard her own voice whisper in between her sobs muffled by Tim's embrace. "I didn't want this. I was--I was only 15. I didn't ask for all of this power. 

Damian nodded in understanding. "You were suddenly forced to grow up one day. You weren't allowed to be a kid again. Your mind was battling itself. Two sides. A kid and an adult fighting for dominance. Even now. You're still a kid but you had to grow up." 

Her sobs grew louder and Tim's embrace grew deeper as he pulled her further in and rubbed her back allowing her to let it all out. But not too deep or he would harm the kid. 

It was Dick that spoke next. "I get it now. Your dream. Two in the morning. The second floor. Two babies.....Two sides. Two different ages. Youth and Adulthood." His eyes found Marinette and his eyebrows furrowed. "You've been suffering for so long you haven't even had the chance to enjoy the rest of your childhood. You weren't allowed to grow up, you were forced to." 

She sniffed and her breathing grew erratic but she could feel herself calming down. This was good. The crying was good. The hug was good. And now she finally understood her dream. Two sides battling for dominance. Huh. She never would've thought she'd ever have to fight a battle against herself. A mental one at that. But what did the desire mean? 

And was that really all there was to her frightening dream? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are just getting deeper and deeper! So many things are happening and the meaning of her dream has finally been revealed! But is that all? It can't be this easy! Nothing so far has been this easy! So just what does this all mean? And will she have anymore of these so called 'night terrors'? Or will her fears come in a different form?


	11. Book Cover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is not a new chapter! I repeat, this is not a new chapter! This is the cover of this book that is also co-posted on Wattpad!

# 

So sorry! I totally forgot about crediting the artist! Here's the original artist's tumblr and twitter a supplied by someone in the comment section - ceejles.tumblr.com and @ceejurs on twitter.


	12. Updating

So recently, I've been having . . . let's just say 'problems' which will unfortunately make it harder to read and write and understand things (also school is starting) and so my update times will be a lot slower.

Thanks for reading.


	13. Useless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back guys!!! I know it's been a while, but I'm feeling a lot better now. Word of warning though, I will occasionally have points in the future where my uploads take a while for various reasons. Anyway, this is a filler chapter to get the story back on track and it took me so long to figure this out! *sigh* Finally! 
> 
> [ **Warning** ] Swearing ahead (only a little). Also, angst and more cliffhangers that won't completely make sense until the big secret if finally revealed in a future chapter! Oh how I love teasing you guys with cliffhangers and chapters that only increase the amount of questions swirling in your heads! XD 
> 
> [ **Another Warning** ] If I don't express Marinette's emotions correctly, I apologise. I'm not experienced with pregnancy so I'm just trying to put it all together and imagine it based on the information I search up about the symptoms and stuff. I'm not asking you to forgive me, I'm just asking you to try and get where I'm trying to go at with how she's feeling and stuff.
> 
> Enjoy! :-)

The cool touch of the water kissed her face and washed away the remnants of the dried up tears streaming down her cheeks. She sighed and looked up watching the girl in the mirror as she mimicked her movements.

Gods she was a mess.

Her hair was sticking out in random places and the water on her face made her look like she'd taken a dip in the pool.

She sniffed and picked up her towel drying her face and ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to tame it before giving up. She took one last look in the mirror before taking a deep breath in and another out, pasting a smile on her face and leaving the room. 

The walk to the kitchen dragged on as her thoughts took over.

She didn't really know how to feel. It was annoying being a victim. She didn't have _time_ to look after her _feelings_. She'd never had to face such a tough challenge.

She was trying so very hard to be strong, but her facade was slipping.  
Every so often, she would feel the touch of his hand on her thigh or the light hovering over her cheek where he'd always kissed her every morning.

The news had said nothing about his death. Either Gabriel had bribed them shut or..or they hadn't found his body. But wouldn't they then report him missing? 

Perhaps it was the connection between the cat and the bug, but she couldn't help but worry. She had the cat now. So why could she still feel him? She was sure she'd hit him hard enough. Was she just being paranoid?

She growled. 

She hated feeling so vulnerable. She hated having to rely on them. She'd been independent for so damn long! She still hadn't told her parents who Ladybug really was. She'd never get the chance to do that.

She stopped and slumped against the wall, the smile slowly fading away. 

This amount of stress wasn't good for the baby. 

But she couldn't help it.

Her head ached, thousands of thoughts swirling around and around.

_So many tests to do._

_Ultrasounds._

_Screenings._

_Blood._

_So much to do_.

_So hungry_.

_Need coffee._

_So tired!_

She had no time to look after herself when there was a human growing inside of her.

She needed to get a midwife soon. Being 6 weeks into her pregnancy and having no idea what to do was fucking dangerous. 

Her mental health was spiraling out of control and she was just so--so--ugh! So confused!

Everything was happening too fast. And despite everything she'd been through with him, she couldn't help but wonder how things could've been right now if those months hadn't happened. What if his mentality hadn't taken over his logic? Her mind led her to thoughts of her giggling as Adrien ushered her into bed and rushed off to the kitchen muttering something about protein to make her the chicken, lettuce and cheese baguette he'd promised her. 

Her mouth broke into a frown and slowly but surely, she could feel the dread crawl up her back and burrow itself next to her neck. 

She was terrified but she couldn't deny the fact that despite this, she still loved him. She still missed him.

So many emotions were barging into her head and she didn't know what to do with them. For the first time since she'd become Ladybug, she felt completely and utterly useless.

She reached for the doorknob but paused. 

They were expecting her to be strong.

She had to live up to their expectations.

But she was only physically strong.

Screaming at her to be strong wasn't helping. 

**They're so useless.**

The door flew open startling her out of her thoughts and her eyes went wide as a flour-covered, frowning Jason Todd came face to face - or face to chest considering how flipping short she was compared to them - with her sighing and muttering under his breath before he finally answered her expression with a "We had a bit of an..uh..accident..with the flour" and stepped aside to show the horrid sight of the whole room decorated with flour and an equally as horrid sight of Damian and Tim staring at each other, eyebrows furrowed as they held two now empty bags of flour.

Normally, she'd laugh this off and make a flour angel on the floor or turn this into a flour fight, but she wasn't in the right mood set for that. And so she walked to the fridge and grabbed the bag of cheese turnovers she'd forgotten to eat and a bottle of orange juice and walked up to Jason staring him dead in the eyes.

"You owe me five bags of flour. All purpose."

"But I wasn't even--"

"Five bags!"

It was when he sighed and nodded that she directed her attention to the men still stood with empty bags of flour in their hands now staring at her. She glared at Tim ignoring his smirk and her eyes flicked to Damian's holding his gaze before he broke it quickly and moved to clean up.

Her eye twitched and she turned around gripping her food tighter before leaving the room full of flour and stupidly immature older brothers. 

She sighed thinking back to Damian. They were back to stage 1. 

Why wasn't she allowed to complain? Why the hell did he get to order her around! He didn't know how it felt to be her! A punch to the face would've hurt less than what his dissatisfaction did to her. She hated feeling weak. And he was just making her feel weaker. Love was weakness.

**So useless.**

-&-

"Why haven't you found her yet?"

Natalie's eyes dropped to the ground. "We haven't been able to find any leads. No usage of credit cards, no public sightings, not a single trace."

Gabriel's eyes screwed shut. "It's been weeks Natalie! No one just disappears like that!"

With the amount of anger he was feeling at this point, he may as well just akumatize himself.

He grumbled and slammed his hand on the desk making her jump. "My son is dead and we still haven't found the person who killed him! Can't you just send a picture of her abroad!"

Natalie shook her head. "Sir, you know we can't tell anyone about this. It would bring up too many questions if they found out he was gone too."

Gabriel's mind led him back to the day news broke out about the Dupain-Chengs found dead in his son's house and his son missing from the scene along with Marinette.

"Sir, how do you know for sure that he's dead? He wasn't at the scene of the murder and even when I sent our men to go and clean out the evidence, nothing--"

"There was a knife with his blood on it and her fingerprints where all over the handle!" He huffed. 

Natalie's head ached. There was too much evidence and too little information. Adrien had barely kept in contact since him and Marinette had moved in together. Nothing made sense and Gabriel was crumbling under the pressure; his wife was in a coma and his son was presumably dead.

It was when Gorilla came pounding on the door and she opened it to the sight of him huffing and announcing that they had a visitor that things started to swirl further out of control. He looked scared.

Gorilla was _never_ scared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next one should be out sooner now that I've finally dug myself out of the hole I accidentally stuck myself in! Phew! It took so damn long to figure out XD. Let me know about your theories for..well, anything! Like if Adrien's dead or alive, or why Plagg broke his ties with Adrien. Or maybe Marinette's emotions spiraling out of control and the Wayne brothers. Who's the visitor at the door?
> 
> And where the hell is Bruce? We haven't heard from him in a while. So many questions...


	14. Surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry, it's been so long. I just finished the season 4 of Riverdale and am so excited for season 5! Anyway, I was watching Riverdale when I got this wicked exciting idea on how to change and improve this story. I've been struggling with the darn writer's curse known as 'Writers block' for a while. I'd started writing this chapter a while ago, but ran out of ideas on how to move it along in a good flow and finish it. Riverdale gave me a new insight on certain things and so the genre of this book has been changed. Hope you like this chapter.
> 
> And...can you guess the new genre?

The woman stepped closer and closer. The smirk on her face grew as she replayed the day's earlier events in her head. This man would pay. He'd messed with the wrong people. 

Made promises he couldn't keep.

Stupid Agrestes. So naive. It was time they learned how the real world worked.

Her heels scratched against the cement coming to a stop outside the main entrance. 

She leaned her neck to the side shivering in glee at the addicting crack it made. She'd worn her best and sharpest heels today. Normally, she'd want to surprise them.

But not today.

Today, she was gonna go right up in their faces. She wanted to be heard today. But she wasn't going to be too loud. She brushed her hair aside and pressed the bell smirking at the camera that came out. The click of the gate was heard almost immediately.

Good.

She'd been heard.

They knew she wasn't here just for business. 

She almost giggled in sickening euphoria when the man known as 'Gorilla' practically jumped aside allowing her entry into their twisted home.

She could barely help herself when she came face to face with a painting she knew all too well. Mrs Goody-Two-Shoes Agreste. And so she said the words she lived for as her face morphed into utter disgust before it changed to something akin to longing and finally back to a smirk - although this time less snarky. Looking at a woman who was now but a memory she wanted to shove into the deepest of depths of the enigma of a mind she had...it brought up feelings she hated. Her eyes narrowed. "Surprise."

-&-

He watched her as she sat down on the armchair he'd always reserved for..special..guests. Her leeching eyes scanned him from top to bottom before finally meeting his with that burning cold stare she always reserved for..special..occasions. 

Then she smiled. Her skin shedding of the evil cloak and putting it aside for later use.

He waited for her to make the first move. 

And so she did.

"You know the story of Thor and the Giants of Jotunheim."

His eyes narrowed and his foot tapped impatiently, though quietly. He remained silent waiting for her to continue.

Her smile broadened satisfied with his silent answer. "The test."

The clock on the wall ticked. And ticked. And ticked.

She wasn't normally one to dwell too long on one thing or drag it on like this. Her words were either very blunt or very vague. But today...

"Thor was quite the boastful spirit. His boastful, arrogant nature was both his flaw and his greatest strength. He challenged the giants. Not knowing that they were in fact challenging _him_."

She shuffled in the armchair becoming more comfortable. "Testing him. Testing his strength. Thor's flaw was his constant self-praise. The thought that only he was able to wield the hammer. Because of this flaw, he fell into the sweet, honey taste of mead where his strength was tested by his greatest enemies. Not knowing as they watched with glee from the sidelines. Brushed his ego."

"The thing, though. Is that although some thought he was stupid because of this flaw, genetically, he was far from it. He wasn't the smartest but he did have an intelligence over average."

Mr Agreste's teeth clenched as he waited for her to get to the point. Because he knew there was one. There was always a point when it came to this woman.

Slowly but surely, her skin was beginning to take shape. Attach itself back. Because there was a point that she was trying to make.

"You know what I do in my line of work Gabriel. You know the kind of person I am. The background I have. You know about my father. My dear Batsie. And my son. The people I control. The way I do it. But I also know you Gabriel. I know what you're planning. I know who you are. Your wife." She lowered her gaze before flicking them up and fluttering her eyelashes in a provokingly innocent way. "Your son--"

"What is your point."

She smirked. "Naughty naughty Gabriel. You know not to speak to me like that. Not after what you did." 

Gabriel's jaw twitched but he kept his mouth shut.

"Remember the game we used to play? Chess." She giggled. "I still play it sometimes. But not too much, I'm far too busy. Emilie always seemed to beat you." She sighed in reminisce. "To win the game, you capture the Queen. The king is the most important chess piece. If you lose the king, you lose the game. Thor was being tested. They were using his strengths against him. He lost himself. However..."

Despite him trying hard not to, he still found himself on the edge of his seat waiting for her next words. Because she had a point. She always had a point.

She stood up pleased with herself and ready to leave. "You must remember that the _Queen_ is the most powerful piece. And all monarch have enemies..and allies. Sometimes, even the most unexpected ones." 

And with that she left. Not another word. Not another message. Not another crypt. 

Just silence and the sound of extra sharp heels echoing seemingly getting louder and louder despite them getting further and further away.

As Gabriel Agreste rubbed a hand down his face and sighed a frustrated sigh.

And thus a new story was born. This recent murder was more than it let on. It ran deeper than a certain Gabriel Agreste knew. Despite his numerous attempts to figure it out, he never would until the day the truth was revealed. The truth of the death of one Adrien Agreste.

He would only find more and more evidence. But would continue to have too little information.

But one thing he would find was that no one was innocent. Even the most innocent of them all.

~ **1 Year and 7 Months Ago** ~

The tiny squeak of a floorboard was heard quickly followed by silent hushed whispers repeating the phrase "be quiet he's going to hear us". 

The young adults sneaked past hidden obstacles in the dark of everyday items as they searched desperately for hiding places. 

"We should never have decided to move as a group. We should've separated!" The young woman with dark flowing hair and bluebell eyes shushed the speaker as she tiptoed past yet another vase.

"It's so dark." The young man with the iconic red cap now replaced with a new iconic red beanie squinted his eyes as he followed his girlfriend watching their backs.

Said girlfriend with wavy, reddish-brown ombre hair and a common use of glasses held her hand up stopping them in their tracks.

They could all feel it.

The impending doom coming their way as chills came in through the window of the old holiday cabin house owned by the Agrestes.

Another floorboard squeaked and they shivered, but this time not from the cold. Because they knew that they'd all stopped moving and so none of them could've made that floorboard creak. 

The woman with the wavy hair gulped.   
The man with the new iconic beanie shuddered.  
And the woman with the bluebell eyes turned around slowly to be met with the sight of a Cheshire grin belonging to a man with sun-touched hair.

"Found you."

The three grumbled and huffed annoyed at their lack of ability to hide.

The man with sun-touched hair laughed in triumph and flicked on the lights. "I won. Now you guys owe me that last slice."

And so the friends solemnly watched as their friends slowly savored the last slice of pizza. Then they moved on to their game for the night. Giggles and laughs echoing down the warm walls of the old holiday cabin house owned by the Agrestes.

The Agrestes.

_The_ _Agrestes_ _._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, I'm just gonna warn you that you're all giving me ideas. For example, Adrien killing Luka. Now I just might add that to the story! XD You should be commenting things like 'omg, what if Marinette and Damian were getting married then Adrien came bursting through back from the dead and shouting "I object!"' or even 'omg, what if Marinette and Damian are at the park and a kid points out how they both look like her mum and dad and then her mum comes and apologises and drags her kid away leaving Damian and Marinette and awkward, flushing mess!'
> 
> And can you guys guess who our mystery woman was?
> 
> Hope you guys liked this chapter and I once again apologise for my far delayed publish.


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